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Thrown Out of the Arena
Throughout both runs of Robot Wars, there have been many instances of a robot being thrown out of the arena. It occurs when a robot is thrown over the Robot Wars Arena walls, into the space between the wall and the outer enclosure, and can no longer take part in the battle. This area had no formal name in the original series, but in the reboot, it is referred to as the Trenches. This tactic was first demonstrated in the Series 3 Grand Final, where it was immediately acknowledged as a legitimate method of defeating opponents via knockout, alongside pitting or immobilising them. Though primarily a goal of flipping weapons, some lifting weapons and even vertical flywheels have had success defeating opponents in this way. House Robots such as Sir Killalot, Mr. Psycho and Matilda began to conclude robot defeats by throwing them from the arena, and the Arena Floor Flipper was capable of throwing featherweights from the arena towards the end of the original run. Chaos 2 was the first robot to achieve this feat, and defeating an opponent in this way was initially considered Chaos 2's trademark (Jonathan Pearce called it George Francis' "party trick"). Later, robots such as Firestorm and Thermidor 2 began to utilise it as a means of finishing a battle, and Wheely Big Cheese arguably performed the most famous out of the arena flip against Axe-Awe. By Series 7, it was not unusual to see several out of the arena flips in an episode - thirty such occurrences took place in that series alone. Flipping a robot out of the arena is the quickest way to defeat an opponent, as it can be done in very short order without delays such as charging a spinning weapon or waiting for the pit to descend. Of the thirty-three [[Shortest Battles in UK Robot Wars|shortest battles in the UK Robot Wars]], twelve were concluded by a robot being thrown out of the arena, four of those being the fastest, at 5.6, 5.8, 6.5 and 9.7 seconds respectively. In the Series 8-10 arena, the arena walls were heightened greatly in the corners of the arena, making it near-impossible to flip robots out of the arena there. Instead, the four arena entry gates in the middle of each wall are left low, where a robot can throw another competitor into the Trenches, for a win through the same method. In Series 9, the addition of the Dial of Doom also covered up one of these trenches. Leaderboard The record holder for most out of the arena flips by a competitor robot is Dantomkia, which defeated nine robots in this way throughout its appearances in the UK Series. Sir Killalot, as a House Robot, holds the outright record, having dropped 15 robots out in total across the UK, US and Dutch versions of the show. Rank of all competitor robots which have thrown another robot out of the arena *Robots coloured in gold have held the record for most out of the arena flips at any one time. *Robots listed by number of out of the arena flips. Where tied, the robots are listed by order in which they first achieved the feat. *Robots listed with a dagger (†) were parts of clusterbots, including robots with minibots, and are classed as counting for a full number. Each part counts as one, but in the case of multiple robots in a clusterbot being thrown out in the same battle, it still counts as one. Rank of all House Robots who have thrown a competitor out of the arena Record for most consecutive Out of the Arena flips *'Chaos 2 & Thermidor 2 (2 robots)' - Because Series 5 and Extreme 1 were filmed simultaneously, it is hard to determine which robot set the original consecutive record. In addition, the two machines set the record in different ways - two robots in a single battle (Thermidor 2, Extreme 1 Mayhem), or two robots in successive battles (Chaos 2, Series 5). As a result, both machines have been recognised as the original record holders. Note: Wheely Big Cheese, Bigger Brother, Raging Reality, M2, Dantomkia and Gravity all matched this before it was broken, but for convenience, the honour remains with the original holders. *'Tsunami (3 robots)' - In Series 7, Tsunami matched Thermidor 2's feat by defeating Major Tom 3 and Diabolus in its first round battle, and then broke the record by flipping Constrictor out in the second round. Note: Atomic and Firestorm 5 both matched this before it was broken, however the record remains with the first robot to achieve it. *'Atomic (4 robots)' - All four of Atomic's victories in Series 7 were scored by throwing another competitor out. By flipping S.M.I.D.S.Y. out of the arena in its Heat Final, Atomic matched Tsunami's record, which it broke in its next battle by flipping M2 out of the arena in its first Semi-Final round. Note: Eruption has since matched this, however the record remains with the first robot to achieve it. Competitors Series 3 Series 4 Extreme Series 1 Series 5 Series 6 Extreme Series 2 Series 7 Series 8 Series 9 Series 10 Extreme Warriors Season 2 House Robot Inflicted Extreme Series 1 Series 5 Series 6 Extreme Series 2 Series 7 Series 8 Series 9 Dutch Series 1 Dutch Series 2 Extreme Warriors Season 2 Nickelodeon Robot Wars References Category:Terminology